


To Keep Me Warm

by pandorabox82



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 11:33:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7047994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandorabox82/pseuds/pandorabox82
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas surprises abound when JJ and Hotch end up together. But neither was expecting this many!</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Keep Me Warm

"Seriously, you're not tired of watching Christmas specials yet?" Aaron asked as JJ turned the channel to Hallmark. She stuck her tongue out at him as she shook her head.

"Seriously, you should just hush and watch this movie, because after this, we have to wrap all the presents that we bought Henry and Jack. This will be the last moment that we can relax. As long as Kathryn doesn't wake up, that is…"

Her husband sighed and nodded, pulling her close. JJ grinned, knowing she'd won that particular battle and snuggled against his chest, tugging in his shirt lightly. "She is sleeping through the night a lot sooner than Jack ever did, though. That in itself is a blessing."

JJ made a low sound of agreement as she glued her eyes to the screen. She had been surprised that they were airing this old of a Christmas special, but she had always loved Paul Lynde and Anne Meara. The two hours passed quickly, and then she was standing and stretching, frowning slightly at the small pooch she still had left. "As soon as Christmas is over, I am hitting the gym every day."

"You look fine, Jen." Aaron stood and pulled her into his arms, giving her a long, tender, kiss. She melted into the embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist as the kiss lingered on. It was the phone ringing that caused them to break their embrace and she groaned, wondering just who was interrupting their night.

Reaching around Aaron, she picked up the receiver and answered. "JJ here."

"Hello, Jen. I'm sorry to be a bother, but the boys wanted to say goodnight to you and Aaron." Erin's low voice soothed her ruffled feathers and she nodded at Aaron, a smile spreading across her lips. "Is your husband close by?"

"Yes. Here, let me put you on speaker." She hurriedly reached over and pressed the right button, her arm once more resting around Aaron's waist.

And then, JJ heard Rossi's voice in the background of Erin's phone. "One, two, three… We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy New Year…" The boys' voices, along with Erin's, began to sing along, and JJ felt her eyes tear up as she listened to them carol. Aaron pulled her close and she pressed her head to his chest, trying not to cry as she listened to the group sing a few more songs.

"We love you, Mommy! Have a good night!" Henry called out once the last song had finished. "And if you can, let Papa Dave and Nana Erin watch us another night! We're having so much fun, aren't we Jack?"

"Uh huh! Papa Dave's teaching us Italian, and every time we get a word right, he kisses Nana Erin. She blushes more than Mom does!"

JJ tried not to blush as she looked up at her husband and grinned. "I think we can arrange that, boys. If that's okay with them."

"It'll be fine, Jen. After all, I have to perfect their Italian before they come home to you. Have a good night." She could tell that Dave was smiling lecherously, even though she couldn't see him, and she shook her head.

"You, too, Dave." Aaron hung up the phone and smiled down on her. "Well, how about we go up and tackle that pile of presents we have?"

She nodded and took hold of his hand, leading him upstairs to the guest room. Originally, it was going to be Jack's, but he had insisted on sharing a room with Henry shortly after they had moved in. "All right, so we only have eight gifts and a stocking for each boy to stuff. This should be easy, right?"

"Famous last words." JJ laughed lowly and picked up the book that Aaron had chosen for Henry. "Do you think that he'll like that?" he asked lowly.

She looked up and saw the apprehensive look on his face, and smiled. "Yes. He's always loved to have good stories read to him. And he will love _The Wind in the Willows_. There's something magical about the story. And I hope that Jack will love reading _Beauty_. He reads so well already, but, I just had to give him something that I loved when I was a girl."

Aaron returned her smile and picked up the book she had chosen for Jack. "I seem to remember hiding my tears when I read this. Father always saw tears as a sign of weakness." JJ frowned and rested her hand on his chest, rubbing her thumb lightly back and forth. "It's probably why I have a hard time expressing my feelings to this day."

"At least we're working through that together," she murmured as she reached over and plucked a red bow from the pile. Taking the paper back off, she stuck it to the top of his head and grinned. "And now, you're my best Christmas present."

This got him to laugh and she grinned before hugging him tightly. "No, I rather think that you are my best present," he replied as he patted her butt. Frowning a little, she reached behind and felt the bow he'd stuck there, and she stuck her tongue out at him. "That's for later, Jen."

"And you are incorrigible! I need to keep you away from Rossi from now on." Moving away from him, she began to cut the paper to fit the books, and then passed them over to him. "You are on bow and tag duty."

"Whatever my wife wishes." He smiled at her and she felt her heart melt once more, falling in love with him all over again. They worked as a good pair, and soon everything was wrapped and the stockings were filled. She tried hard to hide her yawns, but they started to come more and more frequently. And then, Aaron was picking her up in his arms, bringing her over to their room. "You have some breast milk in the fridge, right?"

"Uh huh. I expressed some after supper. Why?"

"Sleep tonight, I'll take the middle of the night feeding." She sighed and he bent his head down and kissed her softly. "You'll need the sleep for the weekend. It's the team Christmas party at Rossi's, remember?"

JJ groaned a little as she nodded. "Oh, how could I forget? Penelope promised to bring the mistletoe. Thank God, Jessica agreed to watch the kids for us." Aaron set her down on the bed and she curled up, watching him.

"I also happen to know that something very special will be happening." JJ tilted her head a little, wondering what was going on. "Derek had to ask me first, since he knew that I could get Cruz to agree. He still has a bit of a lingering crush on me."

JJ giggled at that, until the realization of what Aaron was saying hit her. "Derek's going to ask Penelope to marry him?" Aaron nodded. "She has no clue. You know how that ended last time."

"I have a good feeling that this will end perfectly. They've been in love with each other for almost a decade now."

She nodded and stretched out, yawning deeply. "I hope that you're right, love." Whatever he said next to her was lost in the dull roar of sleep, and she sighed a little as she felt a warm blanket cover her shoulders.

CMCMCMCMCMCMCM

"Mommy! Come inside!" Henry tugged her into the hall of Rossi's home, and she heard Erin's soft laugh of pleasure come from the living room. "Nana Erin's holding her baby."

JJ's head whipped around to look at Aaron, taking in his look of shock as well. "Baby?" he asked lowly, letting Henry tug them inside. Their son nodded and grinned at them widely. "When did that happen?"

"I have no idea, honey." JJ slipped off her coat and hung it on the tree before drifting over to the living room and peeking in. Penelope was sitting close to Erin, cooing at the tiny baby in her arms. JJ took in the soft pink blanket and smiled tenderly. Her best friend had finally gotten the girl she could spoil, and she knew that Erin and Dave would be inundated with gifts from that point forward.

Aaron came up to her side, wrapping his arm around her waist. "I see we have a new addition to the family," he whispered in her ear, and she nodded. "Well, let's go meet her."

Together, they walked into the living room, and Erin looked up at them, a tender smile on her face. "You're finally here. I was expecting to keep the boys for another night. They've been the best helpers with Caroline Grace."

JJ nodded slightly as she took a seat next to Erin, focusing on the baby in her arms. "How…?"

"My sister is fifteen years younger than I am and found herself with an unplanned pregnancy. We said that we would adopt her if she still wanted to give her up, and here we are. Our precious little Christmas baby. Would you like to hold her?"

She tensed up a little as Erin held out her daughter. A slight frown passed over the woman's face and JJ bit her lip. "I'm sorry. She's just so tiny. So much smaller than Henry or Kathryn were."

Erin smiled and again offered Caroline to her. This time JJ cradled her close to her chest and waited for Erin to speak. "Yes, she weighs six pounds, four ounces. I almost think that I'm holding onto a doll at times, rather than my baby. My baby." Tears sparkled in her eyes and Penelope slung her arm around the woman's shoulders, pulling her close to her chest. "It still seems unreal, doesn't it, honey?"

Dave turned his head slightly from his video game, and gave them a grin. "Just a little. But Jack is old hat at feeding her already. So, if you two want to think about expanding the family any time soon, you can put him to work."

"Uncle Dave! You're not supposed to tell secrets!" Aaron looked at her askance, and she blushed deeply.

"We just had Kathryn four months ago. You can't be pregnant already."

"Actually, she can, Boss Man. Did you two even wait the full six weeks for her to heal?" Erin giggled sweetly and then covered her face with her hand as the giggle turned into a full on laugh. "Or could you not keep your hands off each other?"

"Penny, quit before you cause my wife to hyperventilate." It was JJ's turn to be shocked and she glanced between the two of them, trying to comprehend what Rossi had just said. Caroline chose that moment to begin to fuss, and Erin took her back, rocking her gently in her arms as she sang softly.

"Looks like everyone has secrets this holiday season. Anything you'd care to share with us, Garcia?" JJ glanced at her best friend, seeing her guilty blush. "Ah, so there is."

She nodded absently, staring down into her lap. "Erin and Dave aren't the only ones who got married last week. Derek and I took the plunge. He said that he was going to ask me at our party in a few days, but I beat him to the punch. I don't even know if this will work out, but, I trust him."

"And that's all that matters, Penny," Erin said gently, glancing over at Rossi. "Perfect trust can cast out a lot of fear. I know that it did for me." JJ sighed and touched her stomach. "But really, Jennifer, you should have waited a little longer to get pregnant again. You're going to be so tired out."

She shrugged a little. "Four years of being with Will only resulted in Henry. It's not like I was planning on this happening so quickly."

"Maybe his swimmers weren't very strong," Penelope interjected, waggling her eyebrows a little, and JJ gasped. "What? It's not like I said something else."

JJ just shook her head, leaning back against the couch. "Well, now that we know that we go really well together, we're going to take extra precautions, isn't that right, honey?" She gave Aaron a long look and he nodded, the happy smile never leaving his face.

"I hope it's another girl. Then we'll have a matched set, and I can take care of our problem." He sank down on the floor next to Jack and Henry crawled up into his lap, watching Jack and Rossi continue to race.

"As long as they're healthy," JJ murmured as Erin let her snuggle in close. "I miss Kathryn. We were just going to pick the boys up and go home to Jessica, and then you had to go and distract me with a little one."

"I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting Lyn to drop her off today. She told me they wouldn't get out of the hospital until tomorrow. I was going to break the news to everyone at the party."

Someone else began to knock on the door, and JJ wondered who was there now. "I get it!" Henry called out, clambering off Aaron's lap and taking off for the door. "Are you here to see the baby, too?" she heard him say to whoever was standing there, and they all chuckled lightly.

"Hey, I got Hotch's text." JJ looked up into Blake's face and saw that she was smiling sadly. "Erin, you didn't tell me?"

"Sorry. Things just sort of came together quickly. Here, help me up."

As JJ watched, Blake helped Erin to her feet before enclosing her in a tight hug, sandwiching the baby between them. "When did that happen?" she hissed to Penelope and her friend shrugged. "Oh, come on! You know everything!"

"Call it a Christmas miracle, Jen." She glanced at Blake and saw that she was crying as she took the baby from Erin's arms. "She's so beautiful, Erin." The older woman nodded as Rossi came up to her side, slinging his arm around her waist.

"Isn't she, though?" They made their way over to the window as once more, a knocking came at the door.

Henry quickly took off, and JJ shook her head as Aaron came up to her side, kissing the side of her head. "Aunt Jessica! Finally! Now we can go and play in the snow!" they all heard him yell, and she looked up at her husband quizzically.

"I knew you would want Kathryn here, and well, I think we're having a pre-party party tonight. Morgan's bringing Reid and food." He kissed her once more and then took Kathryn from Jessica's arms. "Here's Mommy, angel." Aaron kissed their daughter's forehead before handing her over and then grabbing his coat. "All right, Henry, let's go play!"

Jack scrambled to his feet and tugged on Rossi's arm. "If you get Dad, Henry, I get Papa Dave!" The men shook their heads and followed the boys outside. JJ giggled a little and beckoned Jessica over to their side.

"Aaron told me that we have two new additions to the family this Christmas instead of one," she said as she tickled Kathryn's cheek.

"Uh huh," JJ replied, feeling a deep sense of contentment settle over her heart. "And right now, I have my loves to keep me warm." Jessica gave her a warm smile as she nodded, wrapping her arm around JJ's waist and holding her tight as they went over to the other window and watched their boys play. It was going to be a wonderful Christmastime, she just knew it.


End file.
